Senate Appropriations Committee

The fiscal year 2019 spending bills for the National Nuclear Security Administration advanced by the House and Senate Appropriations Committees reject the Trump administration’s deep proposed cuts to fusion research, accept its request to develop a new low-yield nuclear weapon, and split on whether to continue construction of a plutonium conversion facility that it wants to terminate.

Since his confirmation as NASA administrator, Jim Bridenstine has expressed broad support for the agency’s scientific culture and missions, and has said his views on climate change now align with the scientific consensus. He also has advocated new approaches to designing missions to manage costs and increase nimbleness.

Draft spending bills released by House and Senate appropriators would increase funding for the Department of Energy Office of Science by 5 and 6 percent, respectively, bringing its budget past the $6.6 billion mark. There is general agreement between the chambers that major research facility construction projects should move ahead as fast as possible.

The Senate spending bill’s 2 percent cut to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is modest in comparison to the double-digit cuts proposed in the House bill and the Trump administration’s budget request.

The House and Senate appropriations bills for the National Institute of Standards and Technology would fund the agency’s laboratory programs at near the current level, but NIST’s standards coordination and manufacturing programs are potentially slated for deep funding cuts.

The House spending bill for the Department of Energy proposes to halve the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and eliminate the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy, changes that would upend the department’s later-stage R&D activities. Both House and Senate spending bills also propose a range of less drastic funding cuts to DOE’s other applied energy offices.

The Senate Appropriations Committee has advanced a bill that would cut the topline budgets of NASA, the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, by 1 to 2 percent each.

The House appropriations bill for the Department of Energy would maintain funding for the Office of Science at current levels, while the Senate bill would increase it by 3 percent to $5.55 billion. Advanced computing stands out as a clear winner in both bills and the longstanding rift between the chambers on funding for the ITER fusion facility persists.

The Senate’s fiscal year 2018 appropriations bill for the Department of Energy would provide significant funding increases to the Office of Science, the National Nuclear Security Administration, and the Advanced Research Projects Agency—Energy. It also rejects the Trump administration’s proposal to drastically cut DOE’s applied energy offices, but would still reduce funding for each.

House appropriators have released a draft bill that proposes flat funding for the Department of Energy Office of Science, a major cut to the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, and the defunding of ARPA–E. However, key senators are signaling their resistance to cuts at DOE, portending a possible standoff between the chambers.

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